Over the weekend I was once again reminded why I could never become a Christian even that way would be much easier and much more socially acceptable – myself and the doctrines of Christianity are in conflict in several levels, in those important levels.

I have never understood the need for missionary work, the need to come and almost claim that your belief system is wrong and that you can’t honestly be happy if you believe in a different way and to different things than they do.
That the salvation is only in them…

I don’t need to be rescued from anything, my life is as it is because of the choices I and others around me have made. I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell because I don’t believe that there’s such thing – as what G-d who’s claimed to be forgiving and just could send one’s “children” to such place for the rest of the eternity just because they were what they are: imperfect humans?

Missionary work… As a person who born to non-religious family I have always been missionaries’ favourite prey: a pagan, sinner, impure soul to be saved.
I have always despised people who come to me and say what should do, who judge my way and my decisions. To be honest I have always felt like being raped when some missionary comes to preach about The Only Right Way.
Some could say that it’s just denial, that I should accept Jesus to my heart etc., but how could I? I believe in one G-d and my simple mind can’t understand monoteistic religion with at least two god figures: G-d and Yeshua of Nasareth (think of it, how often Jesus is referred as G-d?). Neither I can digest aspect of G-d’s son or favourite son. In my world either no one is or we are all, and this is actually what I believe that Jesus meant by being “son of G-d”, children of G-d.
Jesus… he was a human and his mother was just a young woman and not a virgin, son of Joseph. I can believe that Jesus was a wise man, someone who wanted to modernize Judaism, not start a new religion or be a G-d.
But then, I am just a pagan and I base my opinions on the things I have heard and learnt during my life.

The fact is that three “book religions” (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) share the same G-d, the commentary just differs. And I believe that all those thousands of gods in this world are all reflections of same entity and therefore just as correct than mine.
And to claim that G-d actually cares about to which religion you belong to is just a bad joke: we look for religion because we want to belong to something and claim that ours is better than our neighbours just because we want to be right – because we are afraid of being wrong.

I believe that G-d is just and fair, as much as one can be revengeful. We were created to One’s image anyway.
This also means that I don’t need Satan, and devil for me is just the evil in all of us. We born pure and we have given the ability to choose how we live our lives – and we can change our way at any point. It is all about the way you act, the way you think…. and really meaning what we do.
As previously asked: what G-d would judge newborn based on one’s parents’ deeds?
That would be one sadistic G-d indeed.

This is one of my favourites and it reflects my views on the basics of actually almost any religion:

Man came to rabbi Hillel saying that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah in the time he could stand on one foot.
Rabbi Hillel replied
: ‘What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.'”

Sin and sex

One thing I could never understand in Christianity is the idea of child being born from sin, being born as a sinner and if the child dies before it’s christened it’ll be doomed to Hell for the rest of the Eternity.
As if G-d in all one’s wisdom decided that sex is how human beings reproduce (in general) G-d wouldn’t consider it as a sin and even less would judge completely innocent human being (the baby) because one’s parents may have sinned – otherwise one could say that G-d is one badly twisted entity.

I am aware that by saying that I actually do the same thing I despise in fundamentalists, who say they know what G-d meant with something and are therefore permitted to judge other human beings to the purgatory.
As I see it that if anything is a sin. Claiming to know what G-d has had in mind when creating something. Anyway, that is not the topic for today.

Sex. Fun thing, great way to relax, create deeper bonds (*grin*) between partners and, of course, to reproduce. Both Judaism and I agree.
Sex between committed (/married) couple is not a sin, but actually recommended!
What makes me like Judaism even more is that marital sex is wife’s marital right, not husband’s and woman can file for divorce based on lack of sex (of course she has to be reasonable). And husband has to think of his wife when he’s booking a business trip, as you’re not allowed to keep your wife “starving” too long…
Birth control is allowed (exclusing condoms, but there’s also this thing called reasoning), abortion is allowed, even required if pregnancy or giving birth would risk mother’s life.
Most important of all: you are allowed, actually you are encouraged, to enjoy your sexuality and share it freely with the person you love without the need of being afraid being struck by lightning because you are an evil sinner… 8)

I know there are people who don’t understand why I have to mix up sex and religion, but for me it’s obvious: craving for both come from my soul and heart, and they both feed my soul and heart – and I could never identify myself with a religion which has differing views with mine in any area of life. And let’s face it: sex is important.

Shabat shalom (in advance).